Meet the EN Team

The EN team is made up of an eclectic mix of eventing enthusiasts spread all across the U.S. and across the pond. Here’s an intro to each of the writers who deliver your daily eventing fix.

Shelby Allen
Shelby grew up riding thanks to a mother who shares her love for horses. Hilltoppers Pony Club got her hooked on the thrill of going cross county, and she hasn’t looked back since. After a two-year stint living in Middleburg, Va. and working for the USEA, Shelby joined the EN team in 2017. She now lives in Georgia with her trio of fantastic guys: Justin (the horse), Franklin (the dog), Kody (the understanding boyfriend). [Email Shelby]

Jenni Autry
Originally from San Diego, Jenni discovered eventing thanks to the Bedford Hunt Pony Club in Virginia. After working in both newspapers and magazines, she joined the EN team in 2012. She travels extensively covering the U.S. Eventing Team and has reported at the Olympic Games, World Equestrian Games, Pan American Games, and every CCI4* in the Northern Hemisphere. As for her favorite event, it’s a toss-up between Aachen and Boekelo. She lives with her husband and cats in Pennsylvania. Her 2019 goal is to take on a CCI* with her new horse, Derry. [Email Jenni]

Tilly Berendt
Tilly fell in love with eventing in the same way that every sensible small child does – by playing appallingly pixelated computer games and daydreaming about kidnapping Star Appeal for a cheeky gallivant around Burghley. Born and raised in England, she bounced back and forth between the UK and US for a decade, further cementing her love for the sport by securing a working student job with Phyllis Dawson. It was all merry madness and poverty and broken bones from then on out. Now back in the motherland, she’s flown the coop from a desk job as an equestrian journalist to go freelance, and provides event coverage for EN in and around the UK, alongside introducing her current project, colloquially known as The German Princess, to eventing. Her career goal for 2018 is to get a ride on Tim Price’s bike. #DreamBig. [Email Tilly]

Samantha Clark
Samantha Clark is one of EN’s foundation reporters who helped launch the site into a leading source for eventing news. She covers major events in the UK and North America, and also serves as an NPR news anchor and equine reporter for WUKY in Lexington, Kentucky. Professional noseyparker and chatterbox. [Email Samantha] [@samanthalclark]

Maggie Deatrick
Maggie is a mechanical engineer by day and obsessive score tracker by night. Originally from Texas, she made the move up to Area II to continue competing her bad-ass TB gelding, Divine Comedy, at the Intermediate and Advanced levels while working full-time. After signing on to the EN team in 2014, Maggie went full-on with her score obsession and now happily spends hours inputting data into filtered Excel sheets. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and zero cats or dogs, because she is sadly allergic. If she isn’t working, riding, or blogging, you can find her at CrossFit, stuffing her face with candy, or reading Harry Potter over and over and over. [Email Maggie] [@ComedicEventer]

Abby Powell
Abby Powell was immediately enamored by eventing after watching cross country for the first time as a teen. It wasn’t until nearly a decade later, however, that she would finally be able to compete in a sanctioned event herself. Her somewhat unlikely mount is a 14-hand Arabian/Mustang mare adopted from the local SPCA and they are just getting started at the Beginner Novice level. A Massachusetts native, she resides in her hometown and commutes into Boston daily for her full-time job in research compliance. After work, it’s straight to the barn to ride and then finally home to a very patient husband. Abby discovered a propensity for writing about the sport she loves on somewhat of a whim and has been contributing to EN since 2015. [Email Abby]

Kate Samuels
Kate is an avid three-day eventer who currently competes at the Advanced/three-star level with her wonderful Selle Francais gelding, Nyls du Terroir. A rider since the tender age of 3, she is a young professional in the sport learning as much as she can from various mentors, both equine and human. Kate has worked for Eventing Nation since 2011 and has enjoyed every minute of it. She brings a lifetime of experience with horses, as well as a wealth of knowledge gained through competing at the top levels of the sport. When not riding through the boiling hot, freezing cold, rain or snow, Kate enjoys baking pies, photography and finding ridiculous videos on the internet. [Email Kate]

John Thier
So, one spring I was riding horses for Phillip down in Aiken. Phillip would put the working student riding assignments for each day in this big notebook. I would always get the little red mares because Phillip has a sense of humor, or something. But one morning, I looked in the book, and next to my name were the three nicest horses in the barn other than the ones that Phillip was riding. I felt like the luckiest guy on earth. At the end of the day, Phillip asked me how the horses had felt. Feeling like a big shot and pretty full of myself, I gave him a really objective answer. I said that I thought they needed improvement in this area and that area and what not. I think it either annoyed Phillip, or I was completely wrong about the horses because I was put on nothing but red mares for the rest of the spring. [Email John]

Leslie Threlkeld
Leslie is a photographer and journalist who feels fortunate to have combined her work with her love for horses. She’s been eventing since age 10 and competed through the Preliminary level before taking a break to finish her degree. Today she enjoys jumping smaller fences on an Appaloosa pony mare named Willow and hanging out with her momma-to-be mare, Fey. [Email Leslie]

Leslie Wylie
Leslie is a writer/rider from Knoxville, Tennessee, who has been obsessive-compulsively eventing with varying degrees of success for nearly 25 years — she is currently campaigning her 14-hand pony Princess at the Prelim level. After winning the inaugural EN Blogger Contest in 2011, she became a regular contributor to the site while launching sister sites Horse Nation in 2012 and Jumper Nation in 2016. She harbours as much admiration for adult amateur weekend warriors as she does for the U.S. Equestrian Team and considers it a tremendous honor to serve the sport by sharing its myriad inspiring stories. [Email Leslie]